I wish it didn’t have to get to such a tragic event for me to return to posting on this blog. Friday October 19th, 2012, a horrific terrorist attack shook Sassine Square in Achrafieh, Beirut, and all its neighbouring areas during rush hour (around 02:30pm). The blast, caused by a car bomb parked in the street, caused massive damage to the cars and the buildings in the vicinity; but worst of all were human casualties: 8 dead and more than 100 injured.

A couple of hours into this national blow, Lebanon learned that this cowardly attack had targeted the convoy of Internal Security Forces Information Branch chief Wissam al-Hassan, and had resulted in his death.

This scene was a deja-vu to all of us. A series of political assassinations that took place four years ago had a similar beginning to what we have witnessed today. A number of highly respectable MPs were killed during these bombings; a state of constant fear reigned over this doomed country; and despite those attacks having stopped a few months later, Lebanon stepped into a period of instability and economic stagnation which still cripples our country today.

During their coverage of the incident, the media was communicating irresponsible accusations uttered by different Lebanese politicians—mainly from the March 14 coalition—who, instead of conveying a peaceful message, were pointing fingers at the parties whom they believe are behind this attack. Even though one can sympathise with their situation—the assassinated figures were all from this coalition, however we have learned the hard way, from previous similar situations, that such behaviour causes terrible counter-effects in the form of violent street demonstrations carried out by angry mobs expressing their rage by burning tires and vandalizing.

Following the announcement of the death of Chief Wissam al-Hassan, many TV stations began reporting acts of violence all over the country: tire-burning in one place, shootings in an other, and road-blocking. On hearing these messages, I couldn’t but curse out loud. A wave of disgust overwhelmed me. What is becoming of this country? Are we heading toward total anarchy? Corruption, politics, and secularism have become a malignant cancer, slowly eating Lebanon from the inside out.

Violence, murder, rape, theft, public property vandalism, and now terrorism have become more frequent and more damaging than what we were used to in the past. It seemed lately as if any event, regardless of its gravity, is apt to light up the short fuse of depraved rioters—followers of a certain political leader.

These gullible members of society are not be the root of all that evil, but their damaging conduct fuels the terrorist machine that threat our own existence on a daily basis. Today’s violent reactions to an already horrible incident made me realize how worse our situation have become

A viable explanation of the above increasingly degrading situation came up in a conversation with my fiancée today (and it is the reason why I’m blogging about this in the first place).

The unstable situation in Lebanon, both in terms of internal security and worsening economic conditions, has been the major drive behind the ever-increasing number of Lebanese expatriates who keep on deserting this country in search for work abroad. This economically and socially detrimental process has significant consequences on the demography of Lebanon.

The majority of those who leave the country on a daily basis are educated young Men and Women, holders of a university degree, and who would otherwise waste their credentials by surrendering to the domestic low-paying job market.

The high demand for fresh graduates has attracted the learned slice of our young workforce. Less and less of our productive working party is now being represented by educated youth; instead the generation on which the country relies on to build the future is being overstocked with the unqualified, the illiterate and violent street thugs.

Once viewed from this perspective, the sad reality we live in today becomes justified. How do we expect to move forward and overcome the social and economic barriers put in place for us by the plague-ridden regional politics and the international agendas that dictate our destiny in this disaster-prone part of the map? I understand that we are facing a difficult multi-layered problem; however, we must not ignore these fundamental social and economic issues which are the pillars a healthy country builds on. Today, the footprint of  “good” people is still considerably visible, but will it always be if we continue on the same path of ignorance? Maybe the next time I’m voting I should stop for a second and remember #Achrafieh #Sassine.

I’m sure many of you have heard the following statement:
”We are still in a better position than the other middle-eastern counties. At least we don’t have a revolution in Lebanon!”
Honestly, I wish we had a revolution going on. At least, we would be calling for a change. But what are we doing instead? Nothing! And what can we do? Again, nothing!

I’m being pessimistic I know. But whom of us folks, currently living in this country, isn’t? I would love to meet them, get closer to them, raise my hand as if to shake theirs, then slap them across the face instead; then I would tell them to wake up!

What kind of future is my country offering me? The bleakest one possible. I have completely lost faith in the system. I challenge anyone to offer a single positive attribute of being a Lebanese citizen. This is the first time that I sadly say: fuck patriotism, when the country I should be patriotic about offers me nothing except depression, fear and insecurity.

I know many have already blogged about the terrible situation in Lebanon. But, that didn’t stop me from adding my voice to theirs. I have reached a level of loathing for my country, so high that I really can’t shut up about it anymore.

Suprisingly enough, there are still many who believe that Lebanon is an amazing country. Since this is a subjective thing, I cannot refute it; however, I will try to convince you with simple facts that those people are not living on the same planet as the rest of us.

The following are statements we’ve all heard—and sometimes uttered ourselves—which the Lebanese tend to say whenever they are trying to convince others, like foreigners for example, about the greatness of this country. Here’s what I think about each one of them:

-“We have a moderate climate in Lebanon. Winters are mildly cold, and summers are perfectly warm.”

As I write this post, with the month of May a couple of days away, it’s raining like crazy outside! Yesterday, howling winds were so strong that you had to be careful while driving not to be hit by a flying cardboard box(I wasn’t that careful).
Every single year, you hear elderly people say how much they miss the old days when we used to have four distinct seasons.
In my opinion, the above statement should say instead:
”We have crazy random weather in Lebanon. Winters are freezing and never come at the same time; summers are terribly humid and suffocating, and tend to stay forever.”

-“In Lebanon, one minute you could be skiing in the mountains, and in less than twenty minutes you could drive down to the beach.”

Those who claim so are either incredibly naive or they are referring to the days when people travelled on the backs of donkeys.
Have you ever tried to drive down from Faraya to Beirut during the skiing season? You’d be lucky to make it under three hours.

Traffic has become unbearable in Lebanon—not only from Faraya to Beirut—but everywhere. The roads were designed to handle much less traffic(I’m not sure designed is an apropriate word for roads in Lebanon). And yet, a huge number of imported cars are crossing the border every month; while old obsolete cars are turned into public transportation. Just imagine the traffic jams we would be stuck in sometime in the future.
So, instead of the above claim I would say:
”Lebanon is the only country in the world where if you were to walk to walk to your destination you would arrive much sooner than if you were to drive there.”

-“Lebanese are extremely smart and witty; it’s in our genes. Many of the world’s leading people are of Lebanese origins.”

I can relate to one part of this claim. I lived in the United States of America for almost two years. I have noticed that we Lebanese are street-smart. I believe this is due to the difficulty of living in Lebanon. Because of the lack of facilitations and social services, we learn to do everything ourselves.
I agree that Lebanese people possess knowledge in many fields. However, when it comes to mastering one of these fields, I can’t point to any advantages for being Lebanese. In other words, we are a bunch of novice know-it-alls.

The part which I disagree with is the claim that “many of the world’s leading people are of Lebanese origins.” First of all, I wish there were any statistics that support this. I’m not saying that none of these successful people have a Lebanese heritage; however, most of the former folks aren’t.

An apropriate quote would be one said by David Hume, and which Nassim N. Taleb, a famous Lebanese American philosopher, have titled his book after:
“No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion.”

In my opinion, instead of the above claim a more adequate one would be:
”Lebanese immigrants are extremely smart and witty; they leave Lebanon as soon as they realize they are special”

I can go on forever refuting similar attempts to single out the qualities of Lebanon; instead, I will list some of negative aspects of this country:

A perpetual financial crisis; hugely expensive—as well as terrible—ectricity and telecommunication services; The worst internet connection in the world—or shall I say Ontornet; never ending political instability; a serious case of stagflation; a huge public debt to GDP ratio; high rate of unemployment; very low wages compared to prices; a marriage between religion and politics; transparent political corruption; and even an unpredictable weather, unacceptable traffic jams, and a highly naive population (for the last three I’m being ironic).

In conclusion, I would like to respond with the following to those who proudly say “We are still in a better position than the other middle-eastern countries. At least we don’t have a revolution in Lebanon!” There are two simple reasons why we are not undergoing a revolution in Lebanon: The first reason being the fact that we don’t have a distinct ideology against which to protest; but rather, we would have to rally against the whole Lebanese culture. The second reason is the fact that even if we succeeded in forming a protest, against which party would we rally? In other words, no one is offering a solution which we could on which we can base our demands; we simply have no replacement to the current situation.

Whether you’ve turned on your TV in the past couple weeks, read the papers, or been on any online media website, you are certainly informed, then, about the grim situation in the Middle-East: anti-government demonstrations have been going on for almost a month, with more countries joining this contagious pan-Arabic revolution every day.

.Having its birth in Tunisia, in December 2010, through what was dubbed the “Jasmine Revolution”, this epidemic of protests against dictators of the Arab world was successful in infecting several other Middle-Eastern and North-African countries: Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Algeria, Sudan, Oman, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Djibouti, and Mauritania (read this article for brief descriptions of the uprisings in each different country)

 (Text continues after video)

One more country seems to be on the waiting list: Syria. While Egyptians were crowding Tahrir square during last Tuesday’s “million man march”, the Facebook page ”The Syrian Revolution 2011” was gathering thousands of supporters. The page calls for a “day of anger” to take place, today, Friday February 4, after prayer time in all Syria. So in less than 24 hours, we’ll know whether this call will be answered by the oppressed Syrian populace, or whether they will decide to avoid another terrible February, that of 29 years ago.

In February 1982, history recorded one of the most atrocious massacres in the Arab world: the Hama Uprising. The Syrian army exterminated more than 40,000 people—members of the Muslim Brotherhood. For a devastating three weeks, the town of Hama was bombarded by 12,000 soldiers. Using air and ground attacks—jet-fighters, tanks, artillery, ground infantry—the town of Hama was pulverized, and the “infidels”—men, women and children—were all executed in cold-blood. The government of Hafez el Asad, the father of Bashar the current president, intended to send a very clear message to all the Syrians: not even a tiny complaint—against the ruling government—shall be tolerated! And his message has been keeping the people’s mouths shut during all these years.

The question remains whether the people have reached their breaking point; and if so will they be able to overcome their dire memory of February 3, 1982, and raise their voices on February 4, 2011?

Update:

After submitting this post, I stumbled upon the following video, released recently by Mamoun Homsi, a former Syrian MP who was imprisoned by the government for politically opposing the ruling party. Below it is the English translation of his public address to all the Syrian, to join forces in the revolution against tyranny and oppression in Syria.
To be honest though, the video is a bit funny. However, you can’t deny that it is somewhat impressive to watch someone uttering a direct opposition to the Syrian government after so many years of oppressed silence.
 

English translation by NowLebanon.com:

Oh, great people of Syria
Oh, gentleman, scholars and clerics of Syria
Your country and your people are calling out for your conscience
Stand by your young men and your young ladies
Those that aim at supporting the Syrian opposition
To start the Jasmine Revolution
And to face the unjust and oppressing dictatorship
Rise for your dignity
Rise for your own living
Say no to corruption
No to deprivation
Say we want life
Walk out of the mosques and churches
And walk together hand in hand
From the different religions and affiliations
Arab, Kurds, Assyrians
Hold up the nation’s flag
Say altogether
Down with the dictatorship
Down with the dictatorship
Long live Syria
Long Live Syria
Long Live Syria

Photo Sources:
-Protests in Egypt - http://www.nydailynews.com/
-Damaged Hama in 1982 - http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com

You don’t need to be a political analyst—and definitely not a clairvoyant—in order to “foretell” that Lebanon is moving into a major political and economic crisis. The reason I say “major” is because this country has been in a never-ending crisis. However, current events have escalated the seriousness of the situation to a point where everybody is afraid of an armed conflict taking place (for a brief overview of the current situation in Lebanon, you can refer to any of these articles: Political chaos in Lebanon ravages economy, instills fear — Amid opposition pressure, Hariri not backing down — Lebanon tightens security as political crisis deepens).

Diplomatic activity in the upcoming few days is key to the avoidance of a civil war. Neither party is showing signs of concession to where the opposing group currently stands. Even more, both parties are using the media as a means to shift public support to their own favor.

The propaganda being employed has reached a level of seriousness never experienced before by the Lebanese public. A couple of days ago, New TV, a Lebanese TV channel, aired two extremely controversial reports, intended to expose ex-Prime Minister Hariri (At the end of the article are the YouTube clips of the reports. the first video is an audio recording in English with Arabic subtitles; the second is in only in Arabic).

On the other side, another serious event took place on Tuesday. Non-armed combatant of one of the opposing parties—Hizbullah—swarmed the streets of Beirut in a “show of force” (as The Daily Star calls it) . In just two hours, they were able to assemble in strategic locations and then disperse as quickly as they gathered; their intention was to show the other party that they are willing to use force in case things did not go as they please.

Every day, we watch a press conference by a certain representative of one of the two parties, attacking the opponent “team”. Unfortunately, the political discourse between our politicians has become a mockery. We, as Lebanese citizens, are witnessing the whole Lebanese media being transformed into a virtual battlefield, where the two opposing forces haven’t yet engaged in an actual armed conflict; however, through their use of political propaganda, they are both kicking the hornets’ nest.

So again I tell you, I am not a political analyst nor a fortune teller; however, I am strongly pessimistic when it comes to our political situation. In the end, it makes me sad to say I am almost certain that the current “cold war”, which has been crippling the country for so many years, and which is now being escalated, will soon turn into a real armed confrontation: a new civil war!

Part 2 – Part 3

(Image sources: Photo of Joubran Bassil: forum.tayyar.org/ — Photo of Saad al Hariri: NowLebanon.com)

“The ship is now ready," Samar al-Hajj, the organizer of the flotilla ship, destined to sail from Lebanon to Gaza, told AFP on Thursday. Women activists—from Lebanon and other countries—plan to sail on this humanitarian vessel, which will carry food and medical supplies to people in Gaza. Israeli officials were clear about their opposition to this campaign; they reported to the UN that they are determined to stop the ship from reaching its target. Despite these threats, al-Hajj remains determined to carry on with her objective. Israeli authorities are not the only concerned party; a UNIFIL report reveals the UN’s concern, and states clearly that they are ready to stop this campaign in the case of a breach in the 1701 Resolution. The organizers, on the other hand, reassured (see video below) that the sole purpose of the flotilla is to offer humanitarian aid to Gaza. A statement by Hezbollah also came as a pledge of peace. They stated that they will not be participating in this event because they “do not want to give the Israeli enemy an excuse to carry out an aggression against Lebanon.” 

The courage and dedication displayed by the participants in the flotilla, despite the Israeli threats, is really the sort of admirable strong-mindedness we all appreciate. However, the events of May 31st should have taught us that perseverance alone is not enough to ensure the safe arrival of these humanitarian sailors to shore. Hence, some of these women activists seem to have realized this fact and decided that more should be done in order to guarantee a safe journey to Gaza. But, instead of seeking diplomatic support, they resorted to the Virgin Mary, hoping to reinforce their campaign via prayer. The ship was christened “Mariam” (Arabic for Virgin Mary) in her honor. The activists believe that this will convey both a message of peace and of holy power.  

The sail date of the flotilla is still unknown, but according to the organizers it won’t be long. In my opinion, there is still time for the activist to seek out realistic sources of support. If not, I really hope that mother Mary will be able to protect the passenger of the flotilla from another clash with Israeli commandos. An increase in the tensions between Lebanon and Israel is the last thing we need right now; war is only a few nautical miles away!

A friend played me a documentary, yesterday, titled “It’s About Time Lebanon” by Lebanese filmmaker Pierre Dawalibi, released in 2006. I was really taken by the emotional footage intercut into this summary, reviewing the 30 years of war in Lebanon. Even though, it has been 4 years since it was released, I believe it is worth posting on my blog. This short film condemns all political movements, fueled by sectarian hate and corruption, by conveying a message of peace, love and tolerance.

(via YaLibnanTV)

The Lebanese municipal elections kicked-off on May 2nd of this month, and are still under way, covering a different region every week. Because of the high political tensions, which have been rising ever since the assassination of the late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, opposing parties have launched extremely competitive campaigns against each other, with huge sums of money being injected in the process of “buying votes”. Even though elections in Lebanon are democratic, candidates have been known to pay for electors in return for their ballot. This year, the heaps of cash, being frittered away on these corrupt campaigns, are inestimable. In some areas, where the competition is fierce, it has been reported that the sums being paid – per vote – reached $5,000 US dollars. It saddens me to watch all that money being squandered away when, instead, it could have been donated to charity!

While politicians are taken by this naive campaign, the people are looking forward to a totally different kick-off: The 2010 Fifa World-Cup. For them, local politics is a joke, and the situation hasn’t changed for decades. In Lebanon, the same figures have been running the country for as long as they can remember. The World-Cup, however, is a totally different story. Even though our national soccer-team has never been qualified to play in this tournament, this competition has always been the most anticipated of all events. 

Months before the opening ceremony, everyone decorates his or her car, home and shop, advertizing the team he or she supports. During this long awaited period, political and religious differences dissolve and are replaced by a friendly competitive spirit; you are no longer labeled as a Christian or a Muslim, but as a “Brazilian”, “German” or “Italian” (the three most popular teams in Lebanon).

When you observe this completely different reality, overwhelming Lebanon for this short period of time, you realize that people, when left non agitated by our unethical politics, are able to overlook the differences among them, and it makes you wonder whether this could become a permanent reality simply by adopting political “Fair Play”.